I've read this verse several times, but I love how God can bring something new out of it when I thought I already knew the meaning...
My judge often gives the Defendants in our courtroom a deferred sentence. (This makes me think about how God is our "Judge," but He defers our death sentence to give us time and opportunity to accept Christ and be forgiven, then we can have our sentence wiped out and expunged... but that's merely a sidenote.)
I looked up the word deferred, and it means "postponed or delayed; suspended or withheld until a certain time or event."
Even if it seems strange, this makes me really happy! God did not say "hope lost," but "hope deferred." Because the moment we step into heaven, all our hopes will be fulfilled! It is HARD on our hearts to desire something and be required to wait... we all know that well. I would love to get married and have children, and I desire that, but have little control over it. I would love to be at a healthy weight, and I have hope for that, but I get easily discouraged when dwelling on how long it will take. It can be tempting for us to ignore the light of hope because it feels so distant and out of our control, and because the pain of past disappointment was strong. But losing sight of the hope crushes and kills our heart and leads to depression... fortunately, letting go of all hope is nearly impossible, as God has placed that in our hearts. "Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill."
But I love -- LOVE -- the thought that hope is simply deferred, meaning that as Christians who love the Lord, our hearts' deepest desires will be met. God knows the perfect timing and way to make it happen, even if we must wait for the event of the rapture. Like the "Mirror of Erised" scene, some of our strongest desires may be things that will not be fulfilled here on earth -- like getting God's answers to some of our deepest questions, reconciliation with an old friend, reuniting with a dead relative, or generally achieving perfection in looks or health or lifestyle. But heaven is real, and it is in our future, so our greatest hopes are not lost, but simply postponed or delayed!
This verse is not two separate sentences, as I've always pictured it. It is not a statement that sometimes God lets you down and other times He grants your dreams. It is God encouraging His children to hold on to hope -- saying that He knows the waiting is hard on our hearts, but reminding us that He alone knows the right timing for what we desire, and that when our desires are finally met, it will bring us life and joy!! Hope deferred comes before desire fulfilled... hold on to hope, and wait expectantly on God!!
"I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still DARE TO HOPE when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day... The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for Him and seek Him." ~Lamentations 3:20-25
"We all know the dilemma of desire, how awful it feels to open our hearts to joy, only to have grief come in... but something in me knows that to kill desire is to kill my heart altogether." ~John Eldredge
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